Kharla Vezzetti October 2 – After 49,000 Los Angeles voters signed a petition to repeal the city’s ban on medical marijuana collectives, forcing a repeal or a vote, the LA City Council voted 11-2 to repeal the ban. William McKenzie Smith, a patient with the Cornerstone research collective, has skin cancer he is treating with a topical …
SANTA ROSA, CA, Sep 27th: Eyewitnesses to Wednesday’s federal-led raid on marijuana growers in Santa Rosa describe a chilling, full-scale paramilitary assault on a Latino residential neighborhood. Local residents were terrified by the military-style invasion, led by 150 agents from US Homeland Security (!), FBI, DEA, CHP and Sonoma sheriff’s deputies. Invaders wore military garb …
From CalNORML’s August Newsletter (get your copy!) August 2012 – Medical marijuana farmers and other supporters–and opponents–are showing up by the hundreds at meetings where cultivation ordinances are being considered. Cal NORML Legal Committee attorneys are involved in challenging ordinances and representing plaintiffs. After Lake County’s Measure D failed to carry at the voting booth, …
TELL THE PRESIDENT: FIGHT CRIME, NOT MEDICAL CANNABIS You are invited to join us in a peaceful protest demonstrating your support for California’s medical marijuana laws when President Obama comes to visit Oakland this Monday, July 23rd. WHERE: Oakland City Hall Plaza, Broadway & 14th St. WHEN: July 23rd, Noon – 5 PM 12 – …
OAKLAND, July 13th (Friday) – At a pretrial detention hearing, federal magistrate Donna Ryu ordered medical cannabis activist Jose Gutierrez to find another legal drug than Marinol to treat his chronic back pain. Jose’s doctor, Frank Lucido, testified that he had prescribed Marinol because it was the best legal drug for his condition, but the …
July 12 – The federal government has filed property forfeiture suits aimed at closing Harborside, the foremost medical cannabis dispensary still operating in Northern California. In addition to its flagship Oakland location, Harborside operates a branch in San Jose. The landlords of both received forfeiture notices from the DOJ. DOJ has previously pretended that it …
UPDATE 6/28 – Lake County Board of Supervisors’ efforts to pass an emergency, restrictive cultivation ordinance were stonewalled when 300 people showed up for the meeting and the fire marshall demanded it be rescheduled in a larger venue. The next meeting will be July 9 at 9 am at the Fairground theater. The proposed ordinance …
Cal NORML Release Jun 8,2012 Yesterday, Attorney General Eric Holder lied to the House Judiciary Committee in testifying that his agency is only going after medical cannabis dispensaries and growers that are going “beyond what states had authorized.” Just days ago, the DOJ announced a new round of landlord letters in Los Angeles County. Targets …
June 6th – Yesterday’s election brought mixed results for medical marijuana proponents in California. Patient advocates won an important victory in Butte Co, where voters rejected Measure A, which would have sharply restricted patients’ right to cultivate on their own property, by 55%-45. Medical cannabis supporters had sponsored a referendum to repeal the measure, which …
SACRAMENTO, June 1 – The California Senate roundly rejected Mark Leno’s bill SB 1506 to reduce penalties for simple possession of narcotics and dangerous drugs from a felony to a misdemeanor, by a vote of 11-24. The bill would also have eliminated felony penalties for hashish/concentrated cannabis. “With California’s prisons overflowing with violent criminals, it’s …